Using Google Slides as a Tool for Group Self-Reflection

Too many times, Google Slides is seen as nothing more than a presentation tool. Yes, it can be used for that—but because multiple users can work in Slides in real time, it can used for so much more!

One of my favorite recent uses of slides was during a professional development session where Caitlin Smith (@IcedTearex) and I had teachers analyze and reflect on how effective a lesson plan was at integrating technology. They completed the following activity in Slides, which then prompted a lot of great discussion!

Think about how you might use something like this with students. Might this be a way to enhance an AVID Philosophical Chairs activity? How about having students working in small groups use something like this to self-reflect and predict their performance on a rubric?

One thing that was helpful in preparing this activity was making sure that the image the shapes were being dropped over was “locked in.” In order to achieve this effect, I had to edit the master theme of the slide deck and add new layouts with the images I wanted locked into the background. After that, I had to add new slide layouts to the master theme. Finally, I had to apply those layouts from theme when creating a new slide in my slide deck. Here are the steps below:

Step 1 – Edit the Master Theme

Step 2 – Add New Slide Layouts to the Master Theme

Step 3 – Apply New Layouts to Your Slides

Randy Fairfield, MEd and MBA, is a teacher and consultant in the Richland School District in Eastern Washington. He is also a Google for Education Certified Trainer, Edmodo Certified Trainer and Hapara Champion Trainer and Consultant.

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